


I made you to find me

by tigriswolf



Series: Alternate Universe [70]
Category: Chuck (TV), Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-19
Updated: 2012-06-07
Packaged: 2017-10-26 06:38:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/279893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Chuck was a kid, he had an imaginary friend named Bryce.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title: I made you to find me  
> Fandom: Inception/Chuck  
> Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Anne Sexton  
> Warnings: AU for Chuck; pre-, post-, and during film  
> Pairings: Arthur/Eames, Ellie/Awesome  
> Rating: PG  
> Wordcount: 630  
> Point of view: third  
> Prompt: adoration

When Chuck was a kid, he had an imaginary friend named Bryce. Bryce was smart and funny and charming. As the years passed, Chuck made up a detailed history for Bryce. By the time he was twenty, Chuck would answer any question with a quickness he didn’t even have for Ellie, his big sister.

If Bryce were real, he’d be a few inches shorter than Chuck, with dark hair and eyes bluer than the sky. He’d be as smart as Chuck, better with people, know a dozen martial arts and how to handle a gun. And he’d love Chuck. With everything in him, he’d love Chuck. He’d be as much of a geek, and they’d learn Klingon together, and it’d be perfect.

If he were real.

o0o

Chuck went from Stanford to a government program studying dreamshare. He mastered architecture and extraction, and then his instructor asked if he could forge.

Chuck looked at her and closed his eyes, imagining Bryce—from his artfully tousled hair to his shiny shoes.

Dr. Mallorie Cobb inhaled and Chuck turned to the mirror, to see Bryce Larkin looking back.

o0o

Chuck sent daily emails to Ellie. When he followed Mal into crime, he told her goodbye.

o0o

Chuck only ever forged Bryce. He studied martial arts and learned the technical aspects so Bryce could do them, but it didn’t transfer into reality. Bryce was perfect at everything in a dream—point, extraction, architecture. But only in a dream.

And then Mal introduced Chuck to Arthur. And with Arthur came Eames.

o0o

Chuck didn’t like to admit it, but he had fanboy tendencies. Arthur and Eames had all the coolest aspects of Bryce, but they weren’t forging. They were _really that cool_. Being around them was intoxicating.

Not long after they met, though, Mal lost her mind and jumped off a building.

Chuck didn’t work with either of them for awhile after that.

o0o

A few years passed. Chuck worked a couple jobs, but then he went home to Ellie and her husband. He got a job as part of the Nerd Herd at the local Buy More. Life was normal and quiet (read: boring).

He kept up with his contacts, of course. He dreamed about Bryce. And six months after Mal’s husband returned to their children, Arthur broke into Chuck’s apartment, dragging a bloody Eames with him.

“What the hell?” Ellie demanded, pushing her way past Devon. “Chuck, who—”

“Everyone, just keep calm,” Chuck said. “Please, no one needs to get shot.”

Arthur and Ellie both glared at him.

“Um, this is nice and awkward,” Eames slurred, “but I am bleedin’ out here, so…” He tried to pull away from Arthur and nearly fell.

Ellie looked at him. Chuck relaxed the moment he saw Arthur notice how Ellie’s face softened.

“Devon, Chuck,” she ordered, “get him on a bed.” She turned to Arthur. “You, with me.”

o0o

Together, Ellie and Devon patched Eames up enough to catch a flight. After Arthur and Eames were gone, Ellie shoved Chuck onto the couch and demanded, “ _Explain_.”

He told her about everything from Stanford on. She listened, then she hugged him, then she asked, “You wanted out of that life?”

“No,” he answered. “I just wanted to rest. I was always going back.”

She stared at him, her hands clutching his. “You’ll contact me on the seventeenth of every month,” she told him. “And on your birthday, my birthday, and Mother’s Day. Understand? That is the only way I’ll let you go.”

He kissed her cheek, let Devon slap him on the back, turned in his notice to the Buy More, and went to track down Arthur and Eames.

Maybe they’d let him tag along. In dreams, he was always Bryce, and Bryce… and Bryce was _just_ as badass as them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I made him up,” Chuck said. “His name’s Bryce Larkin. He used to be my imaginary friend. Then he became a character – he’s like a mix of James Bond and Jim Kirk. He’s… perfect. Everything I used to want to be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: Maybe Arthur's or Eames's or an outsider's perspective on Chuck and/or Bryce? Or, if it's not too weird :p somehow Bryce begins manifesting himself as a separate entity inside of dreams, not just as Chuck's forge, and he and Chuck interact.

The first time Bryce flirted with him, Chuck flirted back. They were in the middle of training; he figured it was just his subconscious.

The second time, Chuck was dreaming alone, and it went further than flirting.

The third time, he realized something might be wrong. None of the rest of his projections had ever pulled a gun out of nowhere and shot the militarized projections barreling down the alley. Chuck gaped at him; Bryce shouldn’t even _be_ there – they were in Fuller’s mind, not Chuck’s.

“Shit,” Arthur hissed, grabbing Chuck’s shoulder. “Not another shade.”

.

“Tell us about him,” Eames said, slouching in his chair. He looked compassionate and ready to listen; Chuck knew he was a stone-cold killer. The only person more dangerous was Arthur. Arthur stood behind Eames, arms crossed. He wasn’t even trying to act kind.

It actually reassured Chuck. He always knew he was odd. Now, he was crazy, too. 

“I made him up,” Chuck said. “His name’s Bryce Larkin. He used to be my imaginary friend. Then he became a character – he’s like a mix of James Bond and Jim Kirk. He’s… perfect. Everything I used to want to be.” 

“I’ve seen him before,” Arthur said. “He’s the only forge you ever do.” 

Chuck nodded. “He was my best friend, and now he’s a mask. I have no idea what happened.”

“Will this be a problem?” Natalia, the extractor, asked. 

Eames studied Chuck’s expression. Chuck tried to convey how sorry he was that his neuroses had saved their lives. Well, dream-lives. The job? Whatever. Bryce had saved their asses.

“No,” Eames said. “Bartowski will just go under and talk to the chap.” 

.

“Hey, Chuck,” Bryce said. “It’s good to see you again.” 

“Uh huh,” Chuck said. “What’s going on?” 

Bryce grinned at him. “I just missed you, Chuck. Needed to get your attention somehow.” 

“Right,” Chuck said. “You know, that wasn’t even my dream, right? How’d you get in?” 

Shrugging, Bryce stepped closer. He was dressed in a sharp suit, with a blue tie that made his eyes so gorgeous… damn, but Chuck wished he was real. “I can go anywhere you go,” Bryce murmured, reaching out to trail his fingers on Chuck’s sleeve. “I miss you, Chuck. Don’t you remember how much fun we had as kids?” 

“We weren’t kids together,” Chuck whispered, caught somewhere between heartbroken and horrified. He’d have loved to be a kid with Bryce. Bryce… was perfect. That’s how Chuck made him. 

Bryce looked up at him, and the pain in his eyes – it hurt Chuck, because he knew he’d put it there.

Except Bryce wasn’t real. He was part of Chuck’s head, and something was _wrong_. 

Chuck had to wake up and take a long vacation, because he was clearly losing his mind. 

So he pulled out a gun and put it to his head, and Bryce said, “No, Chuck,” disarming him easily. “I _missed_ you,” Bryce said, grabbing Chuck’s wrists. “I won’t miss you again.” 

“Bryce, Bryce, _stop_ ,” Chuck said, trying to fight, but every move he made, Bryce countered. Everything he tried, Bryce knew beforehand and finally, he was on his back, hands and feet bound, and Bryce just kept on smiling that gentle, beautiful smile.

“I’m yours,” Bryce said, patting his cheek. “You’re mine.” 

Shit. 

.

Finally, the kick came and Chuck shuddered awake. 

“Well?” Natalia asked. 

Chuck couldn’t stop trembling. Arthur gave Eames some significant look and Eames nodded. 

“Take a vacation,” Arthur ordered. “And don’t use the PASIV.” 

That would not be a problem at all. 

.

Safe in his bed at Ellie’s, after an awesome meal cooked by Devon and a Project Runway marathon with Ellie, Chuck dreamed a natural dream of him and Bryce being spies on the run together. 

It was a good dream.


End file.
